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1[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charlotteprincess_7093.jpg]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:Charlotte (left) never grows out of that phase,[softreturn]but Tiana (right) ends up marrying a prince.]]
3
4->'''Emily:''' Ah, I have a wonderful idea! Have you ever worn a tiara?\
5'''Rory:''' Well, when I was four...\
6'''Emily:''' You look like a princess.
7-->-- ''Series/GilmoreGirls''
8
9Little girls love princesses. If you ever meet a girl who's in preschool or kindergarten, she will probably have a fairy tale princess's attitude making her anywhere between a gracious but [[BreakTheCutie breakable cutie]] to a TinyTyrannicalGirl who might feel entitled to a [[AllGirlsLikePonies pony]]. Bonus points if she is a fan of the Franchise/{{Disney Princess}}es.
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11She is or acts like she's seven years old at the most. PrincessesPreferPink so that's probably her favorite color. She'll imagine herself as a [[PrincessClassic pretty princess]] or pretend to be a [[FairytaleWeddingDress princess bride]]. Her court will consist of [[GirlsLoveStuffedAnimals stuffed animals]] and dolls. She might want a PrinceCharming by her side as long as she still gets to be her DaddysGirl, looking up to him as if he's a king. To emphasize this concept she might have a SweetTooth because RealMenHateSugar.
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13While somewhat rare, it ''can'' happen with little boys, but in a different way. At around the time they learn the differences between genders, they may have an infatuation with femininity and look at girls differently than before. In short, they may be more likely to have a crush on princesses during their phase.
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15If early childhood isn't specifically mentioned it might fall under PrincessForADay.
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17This trope is so strongly associated with childhood that a teenage or adult woman still clinging to this attitude cannot but come across as childish. Still, even those who grow out of it will still cling to a wistful shred or two: a taste for romance and a Prince Charming, or a pretty gown they twirl around in when no one is watching. The [[WeddingAndEngagementTropes wedding industry]] in particular is built around letting women be a "princess" for a day. The prominence of this trope in real life is likely why so many works have a PrincessProtagonist or have a GratuitousPrincess inserted.
18
19Compare RealMenWearPink (where there's a little princess in each manly man), PinkMeansFeminine, GracefulLadiesLikePurple. Contrast OneOfTheBoys. For similar childhood interests, see KidsLoveDinosaurs, BoysLikeCreepyCritters, and AllGirlsLikePonies.
20----
21!!Examples:
22
23[[foldercontrol]]
24
25[[folder:Advertising]]
26* Thoroughly subverted in a commercial for the Toyota Rav 4. A genie gives a little girl a wish, and she chooses to be a princess. She immediately becomes -- a PrincessClassic? No, she's [[WarriorPrince armor-clad, riding a warhorse, and leading her army into battle]].
27[[/folder]]
28
29[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
30* Harshly deconstructed by Rosemary Applefield in ''Anime/AshitaNoNadja''. As a little girl, Rosemary pretended she was a princess to cope with growing up in an orphanage. However, by the time she's thirteen, the imaginary world where she's lost royalty waiting for a prince to take her away to her castle is [[IRejectYourReality the only world she can stand to live in]]. When Rosemary learns her old friend Nadja is the real heiress, her waning sanity takes a nosedive and she plots to usurp Nadja's identity, whatever the cost.
31* Marika from ''Manga/BokuraNoHentai'' is a [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} trans girl]] who expressed herself at home by pretending to be a princess. In middle school, she begins doubting herself as a princess when male puberty hits and her sexuality awakens.
32* Haruka Haruno from ''Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure'' has this as a defining characteristic. It gets her no end of scorn from peers who look down on her dream as childish. Twilight in particular, who is an actual princess, doesn't respect Haruka for that.
33* Yotsuba from ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}'' starts to go through one in chapter 93, when she sees a picture of Cinderella in a picture book. After confirming with her father that [[EskimosArentReal princesses are in fact real]], she decides to become a princess herself and dresses up accordingly.
34[[/folder]]
35
36[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
37* ''WesternAnimation/BarbiePrincessCharmSchool'': Emily is so firmly in the phase that, being too young to register in the [[RoyalSchool princess school]], she did it for her big sister instead.
38* Scarlet Overkill from ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}'' apparently grew up unloved and thought that becoming a princess or queen would make up for that. Years later, she's still stuck in that phase. She achieved success and infamy as a supervillain, but she still has her heart set on being crowned. In preparation for her coronation, she demands that the dressmaker copy the princess drawing she made as a five-year-old and blows him out of the palace with rockets when he balks at the idea. At the very end of the film, having lost everything she's built up in her life thanks to the Minions' antics, she still thinks she's won because she at least managed to snatch the crown again [[spoiler:right before she and Herb are frozen by kid Gru, who takes the crown from her.]]
39* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', Charlotte [=LaBouff=] is firmly in princess stage when we see her and Tiana as young girls in the opening -- her room filled to the brim with pink frilly dresses, tiaras, and fairytale accessories while she moons over a fairytale read by Tiana's mother. Flash forward fifteen or so years, and we find very little has changed.
40[[/folder]]
41
42[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
43* ''Literature/DirtyBertie'': Implied for young Angela Nicely, Bertie's neighbor. She isn't seen going on about princesses or acting like a princess, but in one story, she [[HerCodeNameWasMarySue writes a story where she's a princess]] and she's marrying Bertie, who she [[PuppyLove claims to be in love with even though she's six and he's seven]].
44* ''Film/AKidLikeJake'' is about a four-year-old boy named Jake who loves fairy tales, Disney princesses, and dressing up like a princess.
45* In at least one film version of ''Literature/ALittlePrincess'', Sara Crewe lives such a charmed life that she not only fancies herself a princess but says that all girls are princesses. She's nearly a teenager but it fits since it takes place in the Victorian period which is when the phase came from so it is probably expected to last longer. It's worth noting that Sara's idea of being a princess does not mean it entitles you to be a spoiled brat.
46* A dark example occurs in ''Mommy's Little Princess'', a LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek. The titular character, Lizzie, discovers that she is descended from German royalty and quickly embraces it, believing that it makes her a princess. This soon causes her to do stuff like stealing her adoptive mother's credit card to buy a bunch of princess stuff, telling everybody around her that she's a princess and getting mad when people don't give her the respect she believes she deserves, and going through great lengths to play Cinderella in a play, including trying to poison one girl and planning to put poison ivy in another girl's bed so that she can't get the role. All of this is done out of Lizzie's need to feel special, due to spending the first eight years of her life with an abusive, drug-addicted mother who constantly berated her and made her feel worthless.
47* When Vivian of ''Film/PrettyWoman'' was a little girl she would pretend she was a princess... trapped in a tower by a wicked queen. And then suddenly this knight on a white horse with these colors flying would come charging up and draw his sword. And she would wave. And he would climb up the tower and rescue her.
48[[/folder]]
49
50[[folder:Literature]]
51* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid: The Meltdown'': One of Surrey Street's many residents is a little girl named Emilia Greenwall, who always dresses like a fairy tale princess. Greg thinks she's been watching too many Disney movies.
52* ''Literature/IAmJazz'': Jazz, Samantha, and Casey enjoy dressing up as princesses together.
53* The picture book ''My Princess Boy'' is about a little ''boy'' who likes dressing up like a princess. It was written by a mother whose son liked princesses and dresses.
54* Sophie at the start of the series ''Literature/TheSchoolForGoodAndEvil'' is firmly placed in one of these, using fairy tales as an escape from the mundane world she considers herself too good for. However, it is shown that she wants to emulate her pretty princesses because they are associated with the Happily Ever After she is determined to get. Sophie may crave a life of glamour, pampering, and mass adoration, but ultimately, she doesn't care if she gets it through being Good or through being Evil.
55* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' has Carmelita going through one, though she takes it up by being a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian]]. She abandons it when she goes through a tomboy phase.
56* In ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'', we're told that Juliet Glossop still sleeps in a cheap four-poster-effect bed her mother was sold as "fit for a princess", in a room that is almost entirely pink with little crown decorations, the effect only slightly spoiled by the fact the legs fell off and were replaced with beer crates. Which weren't even painted pink.
57[[/folder]]
58
59[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
60* One day Manny of ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' imagines herself as Cinderella with Craig as her Prince. Craig likes her but says that he can't kiss her because she reminds him of his five-year-old sister.
61* Rory Gilmore of ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' doesn't want her grandmother to make her into a princess as she thinks of it as being something for small children.
62* Lana Lang's first scene on ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' shows her as a child of three pretending to be a fairy princess -- which is unfortunately immortalized forever, as that is what she was wearing when the meteors fall.
63[[/folder]]
64
65[[folder:Music]]
66* Mentioned by Music/TaylorSwift in "The Best Day", when describing early memories of her and her mother.
67-->There is a video I found from back when I was three...\
68It's the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs...
69* The Music/{{Vocaloid}} song "I Wanna Be A Princess" is about Rin well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin wanting to be a princess]].
70[[/folder]]
71
72[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
73* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': Lucy Van Pelt is firmly in this phase - sort of. She wants to be ''Queen'', focusing less on the dresses and Prince Charming and more on [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen the authority that being royalty would give her]].
74[[/folder]]
75
76[[folder:Video Games]]
77* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', if Cynthia is [[spoiler:the daughter of Chrom]], her recruitment conversation with Chrom mentions that her father used to call her "my little [[AllGirlsLikePonies pega-pony]] princess." [[spoiler:Although Cynthia would literally be a princess, since Chrom is royalty.]]
78* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' has Agitha, the BeetleManiac of Hyrule Castle Town. She's not of actual royal lineage, but a LonelyRichKid who lives alone in a fancy house for no apparent reason and who takes herself for the princess of the "Insect Kingdom", a tree inside her house where golden bugs live.
79* Implied for little Virginia in ''VideoGame/SuperSizedFamily'', who wears a crown on her head.
80[[/folder]]
81
82[[folder:Webcomics]]
83* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', BigBad Zola 'Heterodyne' [[spoiler: aka Zola Anya Talinka Venia Zeblinkya Malfeazium, cousin to Agatha Heterodyne]] exploits this trope enormously, successfully convincing multiple characters that the only reason she's agreed to pretend to be the Heterodyne is because of the pretty dresses and fancy parties. It really, ''really'' isn't. She turns out to be one of the most formidable antagonists in the comic to date.
84--> '''Zola:''' Once I'm settled in as the Heterodyne, I shall have a big, fancy party! And I'll wear a ''pretty dress'', and I'll dance with ''all'' the boys - but mostly ''you'', of course.\
85'''Zola:''' ''[a long while later]'' ...and gold and pearl beads on the lace trim! And for ''you''-\
86'''Gil:''' Sweet, sweet death?\
87'''Tiktoffen:''' We're safe, my lady.\
88'''Gil:''' Safe from ''what?'' The ''fashion police?''\
89'''Tiktoffen:''' The [[MalevolentArchitecture Castle]]. We're in a dead zone now. Before, it could hear everything we said.\
90'''Zola:''' I ''want'' the Castle to underestimate me. Surely ''you'' didn't as well?
91* Sarah from ''Webcomic/ThePrincess2009'' is in a princess phase. She's almost never seen without her crown. Her mother has no clue what to do when her child, who previously [[UsefulNotes/{{transgender}} lived as a boy]], renames herself and starts claiming she's a princess.
92[[/folder]]
93
94[[folder:Web Original]]
95* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': {{Played for horror}} in [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5832 SCP-5832]], an apartment room previously inhabited by a sexually abused girl - the presence of several Disney Princess-themed items, including three heavily stained princess shirts and a colouring book with every image of [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast the Beast]] scribbled out in red crayon, serves to underline just how young she was.
96* Discussed in ''Script/ShadowjackWatchesSailorMoon'':
97--> What I find fascinating about the series is that it really is ''girl power'' in action. It does not take traditionally "masculine" action tropes and simply gender swap them, no, and it does not [[RealWomenDontWearDresses deny or condemn]] the attraction of the pretty princess fantasy. Instead, it takes all the "feminine" girly stuff like frilly princess dresses and pink unicorns and ''makes them into implements of power''. The hypothetical girl in the audience is being told that she can be ''as girly as she likes'' and ''still'' dream of growing up into power and responsibility. Feminine articles are not shackles or playthings to be eschewed, or tools good only for obtaining the approval of men -- they are treated as cool and desirable things, in and of themselves.
98--> Boy craziness is even part of this, in the way they make the knightly romance fantasy an ''active one''. The girls wanna be swept off their feet by a handsome knight, and, damn it, they're gonna go out there and ''find'' that handsome knight and make sure he does it.
99* Gender-inverted in [[https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/treating-sons-like-daughters/ this article]] about a thought experiment of a world where sexism is reversed. Logan, the young boy, goes through a ''prince'' phase, starting at age six when he dresses as Prince Charming and reads about princes, and ending when he's around nine or ten, when he states that princes are "babyish".
100[[/folder]]
101
102[[folder:Web Animation]]
103* ''WebAnimation/DingoDoodles'': "Potato Girl"/Bouclaire is firmly in this phase.... and is also evil and more than happy to murder-via-poison anyone standing in her way to becoming a princess / queen. She manages to get herself adopted by the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Kylandria and then [[SelfMadeOrphan kills her adopted parents]] and takes the throne from the rightful heirs. She then forces the kingdom to be repainted in a [[PrincessesPreferPink garish pink-and-glitter color scheme]] and begins executing any dissenters.
104[[/folder]]
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106[[folder:Western Animation]]
107* "Pink" Dawn Crumhorn a.k.a. The Princess in ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse''. A young spoiled poodle who is solidly in the middle of her princess phase and who becomes powerful after her tiara comes into contact with personality-amplifying mind gel.
108* Lola Loud from ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' is a six-year-old who dresses up like a princess, complete with a pearl necklace, sash, and tiara. Unusually, her [[GenderBender male version]] (who existed in a dream her brother Lincoln had in the episode "One of the Boys"), Lexx, goes through a ''prince'' phase. He's decked in a pink scarf (according to concept art, he was originally decked entirely in pink) and a prince crown.
109* ''WesternAnimation/MarthaSpeaks'': Helen's cousin Carolina apparently went through a phase of acting like a princess, which meshed with her bossy attitude that she still has. Apparently, she only outgrew her princess phase because her tiara got too small for her.
110* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': Angelica often writes stories where she is a princess (if not an angel). In "Princess Angelica", she starts to wonder if she really ''is'' a princess.
111* Implied with Ella in ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Pahkitew Island''. She acts and dresses as a fairy tale princess even though she's a teenager.
112[[/folder]]

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